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Instagram Engagement Report 2019: Tagging Users Doesn't Generate Engagement

Instagram Engagement Report 2019: Tagging Users Doesn't Generate Engagement

Home Blog Social Media Instagram Instagram Engagement Report 2019: Tagging Users Doesn't Generate Engagement

This short post is the fourth of a series of five in which we share some of the results of our latest Instagram Engagement Report.

  1. Video crushes the numbers
  2. The 19 most used hashtags in 2018
  3. The 19 most engaging hashtags of 2018
  4. Tagging users doesn’t generate engagement

Now, if you want to learn all there’s to know about the latest trends to generate more engagement on Instagram download our free 30+ pages report.

Tagging Users Doesn’t Generate Engagement

This is among the most interesting learnings of our analysis.
When you tag someone on Instagram (or on any other social media platform for that matter), they receive an instant notification, increasing —in theory—your chances of them getting involved with your content.
But that’s only theory.
In reality, the more users you tag, the less engagement you generate.
instagram engagement report median likes users tagged

What does it mean for businesses?

Instagram engagement report social network sad

Keeping in mind that this insight takes influential users’ behavior into account – this doesn’t mean you should stop tagging other users.
It does mean that you should only tag users when it’s relevant to your audience and valuable to the person being tagged.
When Katy Perry, Neymar or Selena Gomez post something on Instagram, they rarely tag anyone nor utilize other hashtags but their own branded ones. Yet, they still generate millions on interaction.
Here’s a recent—and hilarious—post from Katy Perry to illustrate this.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtvUc-fnBKq/
Now, I’m sorry to say, but you’re not Katy Perry. And chances are that you’ll never be as popular.

So as we mentioned,  do tag users – but do so strategically.
Here are a couple of successful examples:
UberEats tags @Restaurants
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bqzv-wCgdlg/
The MET Museum tags @artists and @professionals
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtiyZdngNZw/
National Geographic tags @Photographers
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtwzgErl21c/
If the accounts you tag interact back, you’ll get a chance to attract new audiences. And also, crediting people you work in your Instagram captions with is always a nice thing to do.

Clément René

Clément is a Content Marketer. He creates content to help brands manage their online reputation strategy. If not behind a screen, you can find him reading books in Parisian cafés or exploring the city with his dog.

Content Marketer @Mention